Side: The kentauros (centaur) Kheiron holds the boy Akhilleus in one hand. In the other he grasps a branch hung with a hare, the fruit of the hunt. He is depicted clothed and with the forelegs of a man, unlike the Kentauroi in art.
Neck: Nereides with fish (see other image)

Explanation: The arc of the southern Milky Way shone brightly on this starry night. Captured on May 4, in the foreground of this gorgeous skyview is the rainforest near the spectacular Iguaçu Falls and national park at the border of Brazil and Argentina. Looking skyward along the Milky Way's arc from the left are Alpha and Beta Centauri, the Coalsack, the Southern Cross, and the Carina Nebula. Sirius, brightest star in planet Earth's night sky is at the far right. Brilliant Canopus, second brightest star in the night, and our neighboring galaxies the Large and Small Magellanic clouds, are also included in the scene. For help finding them, just slide your cursor over the image. Much closer to home, lights near the center along the horizon are from Argentina's Iguazú Falls International Airport.

Centaurus, the Centaur,

is from the Κένταυρος that Aratos used, probably from earlier times, for it was a universal title with the Greeks; but he also called it Ἱππότα Φήρ, the Horseman Beast, the customary term for a centaur in the Epic and Aeolic dialects. This, too, was the special designation of the classical Pholos, son of Silenus and Melia, and the hospitable one of the family, who died in p149consequence of exercising this virtue toward Hercules. Apollodorus tells us that the latter's gratitude caused this centaur's transformation to the sky as our constellation, with the fitting designationΕὐμενής,º Well-disposed.

Eratosthenes asserted that the stellar figure represented Χείρων, a title that, in its transcribed forms Chiron and Chyron, was in frequent poetical use in classical times, and is seen in astronomical works even to Ideler's day. This has appropriately been translated the Handy One, a rendering that well agrees with this Centaur's reputation. He was the son of Chronos and the ocean nymph Philyra, who was changed after his birth into a Linden tree, whence Philyrides occasionally was applied to the constellation; although a variant story made him Phililyrides, the son of Phililyra, the Lyre-loving, from whom he inherited his skill in music. He was imagined as of mild and noble look, very different from the threatening aspect of the centaur Sagittarius; and Saint Clement of Alexandria wrote of him that he first led mortals to righteousness. His story has been thought in some degree historic, even by Sir Isaac Newton. As the wisest and most just of his generally lawless race he was beloved by Apollo and Diana, and from their teaching became proficient in botany and music, astronomy, divination, and medicine, and instructor of the most noted heroes in Grecian legend. Matthew Arnold wrote of him in Empedocles on Etna:

On Pelion, on the grassy ground,

Chiron, the aged Centaur lay,

The young Achilles standing by.

The Centaur taught him to explore

The mountains where the glens are dry

And the tired Centaurs come to rest,

And where the soaking springs abound.

. . . .

He told him of the Gods, the stars,

The tides.

Indeed, he was the legendary inventor of the constellations, as we see in Dyer's poem The Fleece:

Led by the golden stars as Chiron's art

Had marked the sphere celestial;

and the father of Hippo, mentioned by Euripides as foretelling events from the stars.

The story of Pholos is repeated for Chiron: that, being accidentally wounded by one of the poisoned arrows of his pupil Hercules, the Centaur renounced his immortality on earth in favor of the Titan Prometheus, and was raised to the sky by Jove. His name and profession are yet seen in p150the mediaeval medicinal plants Centaurea, the Centaury, and the still earlier Chironeion.

Prometheus evidently inherited Chiron's astronomical attainments, as well as his immortality, for Aeschylus, who thought him the founder of civilization and "full of the most devoted love for the human race," made him say in Prometheus Bound:

I instructed them to mark the stars,

Their rising, and, a harder science yet,

Their setting.

The conception of a centaur's figure with Homer, Hesiod, and even with Berōssōs, probably was of a perfect human form, Pindar being the first to describe it as semi-ferine, and since his day the human portion of the Centaur has been terminated at the waist and the hind quarters of a horse added. William Morris thus pictured him in his Life and Death of Jason:

at last in sight the Centaur drew,

A mighty grey horse trotting down the glade,

Over whose back the long grey locks were laid,

That from his reverend head abroad did flow;

For to the waist was man, but all below

A mighty horse, once roan, but now well-nigh white

With lapse of years; with oak-wreaths was he dight

Where man joined unto horse, and on his head

He wore a gold crown, set with rubies red,

And in his hand he bare a mighty bow,

No man could bend of those that battle now.

Some ancient artists and mythologists changed these hind quarters to those of a bull, thus showing the Minotaur, and on the Euphrates it was considered a complete Bull. The Arabians drew the stellar figure with the hind parts of a Bear, but adopted the Greek title in their Al Kentaurus, that has been considered as the original of the otherwise inexplicable Taraapoz, used in Reduan's Commentary for our constellation.

Some of the Centaur's stars, with those of Lupus, were known to the early Arabs as Al Ḳaḍb al Karm, the Vine Branch; and again asAl Shamārīḣ, the broken-off Palm Branches loaded with dates which Kazwini described as held out in the Centaur's hands. This degenerated into Asemarik, and perhaps was the origin of Bayer's word Asmeat. He also had Albeze; and Riccioli, Albezze and Albizze, — unintelligible unless from the Arabic Al Wazn, Weight, that was sometimes applied to α and β.

Hyde is our authority for another title (from Albumasar), Birdun, the Pack-horse.

p151Ptolemy described the figure with Lupus in one hand, and the Thyrsus in the other, marked by four 4th-magnitude stars, of which only two can now be found; this Thyrsus being formed, Geminos said, into a separate constellation by Hipparchos as θυρσόλογκος, — in the Manitius text asθύρσος, — and Pliny wrote of it in the same way, but their selection of such small stars seems remarkable.

The Centaur faces the east, and the Farnese globe shows him pointing with left hand to the Beast and the adjacent circular Altar; but in theHyginus of 1488 the Beast is in his outstretched hands, the Hare on the spear, and a canteen at his waist; the Alfonsine Tables have the Thyrsus in his right hand and Lupus held by the fore foot in his left, which was the Arabian idea. The Leyden Manuscript gives a striking delineation of him with shaven face, but with heavy mustache (!), bearing the spear with the Hare dangling from the head, and a Kid, instead of the Beast, held out in his hands towards the Altar, the usual libation carried in the canteen. Bayer shows the Centaur with Lupus; Burritt has him in a position of attack, with the spear in his right hand and the shield on his left arm, the Thyrsus and vase of libation depicted on it; Grotius calling this portion of the constellation Arma. The Century Dictionary illustrates a Bacchic wand with the spear.

In Rome the constellation was Centaurus, the duplici Centaurus imagine of Manilius, and the Geminus biformis of Germanicus; Minotaurus;Semi Vir, the Half Man, and Semi Fer, the Half Beast; Pelenor and Pelethronius from the mountain home of the centaurs in Thessaly; AcerºVenator, the Fierce Hunter; and Vergil had Sonipes, the Noisy-footed. The Alfonsine Tables designated it as Sagittarius tenens pateram seu crateram to distinguish it from the other Sagittarius with the more appropriate bow.

Robert Recorde, in 1551, had the Centaure Chiron, but Milton, in 1667, wrote Centaur for the zodiac figure, as so many others have done before and since his day; in fact, Sagittarius undoubtedly was the original Centaur and from the Euphrates, the Centaur of the South probably being of Greek conception. But in the classical age confusion had arisen among the unscientific in the nomenclature of the two figures, this continuing till now; much that we find said by one author for the one appearing with another author for the other. During the 17th century, however, distinction was made by English authors in calling this the Great Centaure.

In some mediaeval Christian astronomy it typified Noah, but Julius Schiller changed the figure to Abraham with Isaac; and Caesius likened it toNebuchadrezzar when "he did eat grass as oxen."

This is one of the largest constellations, more than 60° in length, its p152centre about 50° south of the star Spica below Hydra's tail; but Aratos located it entirely under the Scorpion and the Claws, an error that Hipparchos criticized. It shows in the latitude of New York City only a few of its components in the bust, of which θ, a variable 2nd-magnitude on the right shoulder, is visible in June about 12° above the horizon when on the meridian, and 27° southeast from Spica, with no other star of similar brightness in its vicinity. It was this that Professor Klinkerfues of Göttingen mentioned in his telegram to the Madras Observatory, on the 30th of November, 1872, in reference to the lost Biela comet which he thought had touched the earth three days previously and might be found in the direction of this star.

ι on the left shoulder, a 2½‑magnitude, is about 11° west of θ.

Gould's list contains 389 naked-eye stars in this constellation.

One of the remarkable nebulae of the heavens, NGC 3918, was discovered here by Sir John Herschel, who called it the Blue Planetary, "very like Uranus, only half as large again."

A 7th‑magnitude nova that appeared in Centaurus between the 14th of June and the 8th of July, 1895, had changed since its discovery to a gaseous nebula, as has been the case with recent novae in Auriga, Cygnus, and Norma.

Sagittarius, the Archer,

the French Sagittaire, the Italian Sagittario, and the German Schütze, — Bayer's Schütz, — next to the eastward from Scorpio, was Τοξευτής, the Archer, and Ῥύτωρ τόξου, the Bow-stretcher, with Aratos; Τοξευτήρ with other Greeks; and Τοχοτής with Eratosthenes, Hipparchos, Plutarch, and Ptolemy. The Βελοκράτωρ cited by Hyde, though not a lexicon word, probably signifies the Drawer of the Arrow.

These were translated by Lucian and the Romans into our title, although Manilius had Sagittifer; Avienus, Sagittiger; and Cicero, Sagittipotens, a term peculiar to him. His equivalent Arquitenens, the ancient form of Arcitenens, — reappearing with Ausonius [Ecl. 16] and with Al Bīrūnī in Sachau's p352translation, — was also used by early classic writers for this constellation; although where the word is seen with Vergil it is for the god Apollo.

Flamsteed's Atlas has Sagittary, common for centuries before him; Shakespeare calling Othello's house — probably the Arsenal in Venice — the Sagittary,1i.e. bearing the zodiac sign. The word was early written Sagitary; and Sagittarie and Saagittare in Chaucer's Astrolabe, from his Anglo-Norman predecessor, De Thaun. The Anglo-Saxons had Scytta.

Columella called it Crotos, and Hyginus [Fab. 224], Croton, the Herdsman; but how these names are applicable does not appear.

Others have been Ἱππότης, On Horseback; Semivir, the Half Man; Taurus and Minotauros, from his fabled early shape, although now figured in equine form; while Cicero's Antepes and Antepedes may be for this, or for our Centaur. Cornipedes, Horn-Footed, also has been applied to it.

Sometimes the whole was personified by its parts, as with Aratos, where we see Τόξον, the Bow, the Arcus of Cicero and Germanicus; and theHaemonios Arcus of Ovid; in Egypt, where it is said to have been known as an Arrow held in a human hand; and with Ovid again in ThessalicaºSagitta, Thessaly being the birthplace of the Centaurs. This induced Longfellow's lines in his Poets' Calendar for November:

With sounding hoofs across the earth I fly,

A steed Thessalian with a human face.

And it has been Sagitta arcui applicata; or plain Telum with Capella of Carthage. Bayer cited Pharetra, the Quiver, and, recurring to the Bow,Elkausu or Elkusu, Schickard's Alkauuso, from the Arabic Al Ḳaus. The translator of Ulug Beg added to its modern name quem etiam Arcum vocant, which the Almagest of 1515 confirmed in its et est Arcus. It was the Persian Kamān and Nimasp; the Turkish Yai; the Syriac Ḳeshta and the Hebrew Ḳesheth; Riccioli's Kertko, "from the Chaldaeans"; all signifying a Bow, whence some early maps illustrated Sagittarius simply as aBow and Arrow. This was an idea especially prevalent in Asiatic astronomy.

Among the Jews it was the tribal symbol of Ephraim and Manasseh, from Jacob's last words to their father Joseph, "his bow abode in strength."

Novidius claimed it as Joash, the King of Israel, shooting arrows out of "the window eastward," at the command of the dying Elisha; but the p353biblical set generally identified it with Saint Matthew the Apostle, although Caesius claimed that Sagittarius was Ishmael.

The formation of this constellation on the Euphrates undoubtedly preceded that of the larger figure, the Centaur Chiron; but the first recorded classic figuring was in Eratosthenes' description of it as a Satyr, probably derived from the characteristics of the original Centaur, Hea-bani, and it so appeared on the more recent Farnese globe. But Manilius mentioned it, as in our modern style, mixtus equo, and with threatening look, very different from the mild aspect of the educated Chiron, the Centaur of the South; while it sometimes is given in later manuscripts and maps with flowing robes; but his crown always appears near his fore feet, and his arrow is always aimed at the Scorpion's heart.

Dupuis said that it was shown in Egypt as an Ibis or Swan; but the Denderah zodiac has the customary Archer with the face of a lion added, so making it bifaced. Kircher gave its title from the Copts as Πιμάηρε, Statio amoenitatis.

The illustrated manuscript partly reproduced in the 47th volume of Archaeologia has a centaur-like figure, Astronochus, which, perhaps, is our Archer; but the title is of unexplained derivation, unless it be the Star-holder, as Ophiuchus is the Serpent-holder, and Heniochus, the Rein-holder.

It is in this same manuscript that is illustrated a sky group, Joculator,2 usually rendered the "Jester," and representing the Court Fool of mediaeval days; but I find no trace of this elsewhere.

We have already noticed the confusion in the myths and titles of this zodiacal Centaur with those of the southern Centaur, some thinking Sagittarius the Χείρων of the Greeks, — Chiron with Hyginus and the Romans; although Eratosthenes and others, as did the modern Ideler, understood this name to refer to the Centaur proper. Ovid's Centaurus, however, and Milton's Centaur are the zodiac figure, as has been the case with some later poets; James Thomson writing in the Winter of his Seasons:

Now when the chearless empire of the sky

To Capricorn the Centaur Archer yields.

Early tradition made the earthly Chiron the inventor of the Archer constellation to guide the Argonauts in their expedition to Colchis; although, and about as reasonably, Pliny said that Cleostratos originated it, with Aries, during the 6th or 5th century B.C. As to this we may consider p354that, while Cleostratos, possibly, was the first to write on it, certainly none of the Greeks gave it form or title, for we see abundant evidence of its much greater antiquity on the Euphrates.

Cuneiform inscriptions designate Sagittarius as the Strong One, the Giant King of War, and as the Illuminator of the Great City, personifying the archer god of war, Nērgal or Nērigal, or under his guardianship, as the Great Lord.3 This divinity is mentioned in the Second Book of Kings, xvii.30. An inscription, on a fragment of a planisphere, transcribed by Sayce as Utucagaba, the Light of the White Face, and by Pinches asUdgudua, the Flowing (?) Day, or the Smiting Sun Face, is supposed to be an allusion to this constellation; while on this fragment also appear the words Nibat Anu, which accord with an astrolabe of Sennacherib, and were considered by George Smith as the name of its chief star. Another inscribed tablet, although somewhat imperfect, is thought to read Kakkab Kastu, the Constellation, or Star, of the Bow, — in Akkadian Ban, — indicating one or more of the bow stars of the Archer. This will account for the Τόξον of Aratos and the Arcus of the Latins, Sayce agreeing with this in his rendering Mulban, the Star of the Bow. Pa and χut, Dayspring, also seem to have been titles, the latter because our Archer was a type of the rising sun. Upon some of the boundary stones of Sippara (Sepharvaim of the Old Testament), a solar city, Sagittarius "appears sculptured in full glory." In Assyria it always was associated with the ninth month, Kislivu, corresponding to our November-December, with which we have already seen Orion associated. From all the foregoing it would seem safe to assume the Archer to be of Euphratean origin.

India also claimed Sagittarius for its zodiac of 3000 years ago, figured as a Horse, Horse's head, or Horseman, — Açvini, — a word that appeared in Hindu stellar nomenclature in different parts of the sky. Al Bīrūnī said that the constellation was the Sanskrit Dhanu, or Dhanasu, the Tamil Dhamsu, given by Professor Whitney as Dhanus; while we have a very early statement that the stars of the bow and human part of the Archer represented the fan of lions' tails twirled by Mula, the wife of Chandra Gupta, the Sandrokottos of 300 B.C., ruler over the Indian kingdom Maurya and the Gangaridae and Prasii along the Ganges. But in later Indian astronomy it became Taukshika, derived from the Greek Τοξότης.

The Hindus located here another of their double nakshatras, the 18th and 19th, the Former and the Latter Ashadha, Unconquered, which, in the main, were coincident with the manzilº and sieu of the same numbering. These were under the protection of the divinities Āpas, Waters, and Viçve p355Devās, the Combined Gods; each being figured as an Elephant's Tusk, and both together as a Bed.

In ancient Arabia the two small groups of stars now marking the head and the vane of the Archer's arrow were of much note as relics of still earlier asterisms, as well as a lunar station. The westernmost of these, — γ, δ, ε, and η — were Al Naʽām al Wārid, the Going Ostriches; and the easternmost, — σ, ζ, φ, χ, and τ, — Al Naʽām al Ṣādirah, the Returning Ostriches, passing to and from the celestial river, the Milky Way, with the star λ for their Keeper. Ideler thought it inexplicable that these non-drinking creatures should be found here in connection with water, and Al Jauhari compared the figures to an Overturned Chair, which these stars may represent. But Al Bīrūnī said that Al Zajjāj had a word that signifies the Beam over the mouth of a well to which the pulleys are attached; while another authority said that pasturing Camels, or Cattle, were intended. There evidently is much uncertainty as to the true reading and signification of this title. All of the foregoing stars, with μ1 and μ2, were included in the 18th manzil, Al Naʽām.

The 19th manzil lay in the vacant space from the upper part of the figure toward the horns of the Sea-Goat, and was known as Al Baldah, the City, or District, for this region is comparatively untenanted. It was marked by one scarcely distinguishable star, probably π, and was bounded by six others in the form of a Bow, the Arabs' Ḳaus, which, however, was not our Bow of Sagittarius. It also was Al Kilādah, the Necklace; andAl Udḥiyy, the Ostrich's Nest, marked by our τ, ν, ψ, ω, A, and ζ; while the space between this and the preceding mansions was designated by Al Bīrūnī as "the head of Sagittarius and his two locks." In his discussion of this subject, quoting, as he often did, from Arab poets, he compared this 19th manzil to "the interstice between the two eyebrows which are not connected with each other," — a condition described by the word᾽Ablad, somewhat similar to the Baldah generally applied to it.

The 18th sieu, Ki, a Sieve, anciently Kit, was the first of these groups; and the 19th, Tew, Tow, or Nan Tow, a Ladle or Measure, anciently Dew, was the second; both being alluded to in the She King:

In the south is the Sieve

Idly showing its mouth

* * * * *

But it is of no use to sift;

the commentator explaining that the two stars widest apart were the Mouth, and the two closer together the Heels; but he does not give the connection of these with the Sieve. And of the second group:

p356In the north is the Ladle

Raising its handle to the west

* * * * *

But it lades out no liquor;

so that our Milk Dipper, ζ, τ, σ, φ, and λ, in the same spot, is not a modern conceit after all. The stars of this Ladle were objects of special worship in China for at least a thousand years before our era; indeed, also were known as a Temple.

The whole constellation was the Chinese Tiger, Williams giving, as another early name, Seih Muh, the Cleft Tree, or Branches cut for fire-wood, and the later name, from the Jesuits, Jin Ma, the Man-Horse. A part of it was included with Scorpio, Libra, and some of Virgo's stars in the large zodiacal division the Azure Dragon. The astrologers incorporated it with Capricornus in their Sing Ki.

Astrologically the constellation was the House of Jupiter, that planet having appeared here at the Creation, a manuscript of 1386 calling it theSchoter "ye principal howce of Jupit"; although this honor was shared by Aquarius and Leo. Nor did Jupiter monopolize its possession, for it also was the domicile of Diana, one of whose temples was at Stymphalus, the home of the Stymphalian birds. These last, when slain by Hercules, were transferred to the sky as Aquila, Cygnus, and Vultur Cadens, and are all paranatellons of Sagittarius, as has been explained under Aquila. Thus the constellation was known as Dianae Sidus. It inclined to fruitfulness, a character assigned to it as far back as the Babylonian inscriptions; and was a fortunate sign, reigning over Arabia Felix, Hungary, Liguria, Moravia, and Spain, and the cities of Avignon, Cologne, and Narbonne; while Manilius said that it ruled Crete, Latium, and Trinacria. Ampelius [Lib. Mem. 4] associated it with the south wind, Auster, and the southwest wind, Africus; Aries and Scorpio being also associated with the latter. Yellow was the color attributed to it, or the peculiar green sanguine; and Arcandum in 1542 wrote that a man born under this sign would be thrice wedded, very fond of vegetables, would become a matchless tailor, and have three special illnesses, the last at eighty years of age. Such was much of the science of his day!

Sagittarius is shown on a coin of Gallienus of about A.D. 260, with the legend Apollini Conservatori; and on those of King Stephen emblematic of his having landed in England in 1135 when the sun was here.

La Caille took the star η out of this constellation for the β of his new Telescopium. This was the 25th of Ptolemy's list in the σφύρον, or pastern, which would indicate that with him the feet had a very different situation from that on the present maps.

p357The symbol of the sign, ♐, shows the arrow with part of the bow.

Sagittarius contains 54 naked-eye stars according to Argelander, and 90 according to Heis, although none is above the 2d magnitude.

The sun passes through the constellation from the 16th of December to the 18th of January, reaching the winter solstice4 near the stars μ on the 21st of December, but then of course in the sign Capricorn.

A noticeable feature in the heavens lies within the boundaries of Sagittarius, an almost circular black void near the stars γ and δ, showing but one faint telescopic star; and to the east of this empty spot is another of narrow crescent form.

An extraordinarily brilliant nova is said to have appeared low down in the constellation in 1011 or 1012, visible for three months. This was recorded in the Chinese annals of Ma Touan Lin.

Sítio das Estrelas, parada de um caminho a Caminho do Céu

Stonehenge no Sítio das Estrelas

Scientists Create Most Detailed Map of the Milky Way

Scientists have created a detailed map of the Milky Way using two of the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescopes in Germany and Australia. The research looked at neutral atomic hydrogen—the most abundant element in space and the main component of stars and galaxies—across the whole sky in a survey known as HI4PI. The project required more than a million individual observations and about ten billion individual data points.